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I'm asking specifically about nostalgia for a time before you were born, e.g. the Blitz parties / 40s tea dances that have big in the UK for the past decade, or the popularity of Speakeasy-themed bars in the US. I'm thinking of nights that require you to dress in theme specifically and celebrate that time.

I was discussing it with a friend today, and I said it seems like it's a way to participate in something your grandparents did that strengthens your bonds to your own family, but she (rightly) replied that her own grandma had never been to a dance – she'd been too poor. It seems to me like when we're at the tea dance or in the speakeasy or whatever, we're doing something more than faithfully reenacting the things our forebears did, but I'm not sure what that is or why. Are we celebrating the best bits and leaving the rest behind? Are we thoughtlessly celebrating a time of awful gender and racial inequality? Does anyone have any insight into this kind of nostalgia, the nostalgia for things you've never experienced yourself, and the act of participating in themed events, and what functions that has socially/psychologically?

Social contact serves many psychological functions, including the enhancement of well-being.

Surely some celebrants are ignorant of the social issues of those times, but some aren't. Either way, many choose to celebrate the times for their good aspects, and at least a few probably feel the good aspects include the less modern social views of those times. It's conceivable that some people would even feel more comfortable in situations where attitudes such as misogyny or racism could be expressed more freely by excusing them as part of an act. However, my mere intuition and very limited personal experience suggest that most celebrations of the past aren't celebrations of the more controversial aspects such as these.